1Greatgolfguy

If I was a 30 handicap and had your opportunity, I would still take it. But I love golf, so for me it would be win win. Get on tour, or worse case scenario, devote a few years of my life to something I love. If you love golf go for it. I just hope that you don't find yourself in the position that you love golf now, but once you eat, sleep, and live golf, that you do not enjoy it as much. That would be the largest failure, even if you do go pro.

There are three ways I use to work the ball. Please someone correct me if I am doing something wrong. Number one is to simply close/open the clubface with a normal swing. I find this the simplist but have the hardest time controlling this one. Number two is to change my swing plane. A more vertical swing plane with give me a fade/slice (because of the outside to in) and swing more around my body to draw/hook. For me, this works best for woods/irons because I can not change my plane a whole bunch and make good contact. The last way is to close my stance for a draw/hook and open for a fade slice. I find this gives and extreme in/out out/in, and I use this for my wedges because I find it harder to put sidespin with such a lofted club. As for your buddy, I can relate. I have a hard time working the ball and keeping good contact, so it's rare that I try and work the ball, and even more rare that I pull it off successfully. Once, I remember I was par on a nine hole course. On the eighth hole, I found my drive in trees in the right fairway, 130yds from the green. Had no straight shot, bushes prevented a punch, and any sort of fade, so the only option I had was a punch hook straight up the rough and low to stay under the trees. I called it and the guy I was golfing with was saying yeah right. So I took an 8i, (normally it would have been a 56deg) closed my stance, but the ball at the back, closed my clubface, leaned my club forwards, and took a three quarter in to out swing. I hit the ball, and lost sight of it. My playing partner ran onto the fairway, walked back towards me and said sadly, "It's on the back of the green..." I saved par.

Hadn't swung a club for 6months, was hungover, and sore after a hockey tourney. Went to golf town to buy a new driver, clocked at 115mph avg. At the mid of last year my driver was clocked at an average of 130mph. I am hoping that the X-Stiff I bought will make a difference. The sim showed a consistent draw. At the same time I was hitting a callaway ft-i stiff. Push, pull, slice, duck hook, everything.

Just a thought but you may be playing with too stiff of a shaft. If you have a hard time swinging a stiff shaft over 230, a regular or possibly a senior flex may be better for you.

I think that you are opening your clubface at contact. This will explain the higher ball flight, the increased slice and the loss of yards on all your clubs. The open clubface on your driver will cause more sidespin which will slice, as well it increases the loft which will increase backspin, which increases ball flight and decrease roll and distance. Same with your irons, if you open your 5i at contact, it will play more like a 6i, and explain why you left it short. My opinion. Clubface open.

There are three contributing factors to spin (bite) the ball. Grooves, ball, and swing. If you are not playing a more expensive ball. You are not going to spin it. What type of iron is it. I had a Canadian Tire special and then I bought a cleveland, and the differnce was huge. You get what you pay for. Also if you are taking a full swing with a 60 degree. And this is a 70yard club, someone who hits the ball 90 yards with the same club has more clubhead speed, which means more backspin and more bite. Maybe you already knew this, but I didn't see the ball type or wedge type in your sig, and it make a HUGE difference.

I agree with Rexx. Backswing is fantastic. I paused it right at the top and it was PGA tour-esque. I think Fairway CY had the right idea, it did look as though you bent your arms just before contact. There is a ball on the range right infront of your hands during setup. When you swung the club you could see your hands and now the ball was behind, which if you hit the ball pure would explain the need to bend the arms to contact the ball. the bent arms would explain the inconsistency. My quick suggestion would be to try to take a couple of swings keeping your hands closer to your groin during your swing, making MORE of a ''V" between your shoulders and the club face. that should straighten out your leading arm, increasing consistency and even possibly distance. Hope this makes sense, let me know how it goes.

I don't see anything posted. I am interested.

I used to have a 64*. Because I liked to have soo much shaft lean on my chip shots with a square face it produced a nice high lofted chip. Difficult to hit and be consistent with a full swing though. Now, as i have gotten better I play with a 60* and if need be I can open the face to do anything I want. Master of the flop shot.

You know your absolutely right. I went to the range and grabbed my irons and said to myself "This is the right club I don't need to kill it." Just like kafka01 said, I kept clubbing down and thinking to myself that I need to hit it harder to even get it there. Noticiably, I had better contact, much more consistent. The only problem was my driver. I still feel I need to bomb it out there when a nice steady swing on the sweet spot produced fantastic results. I guess I just need to say to myself before every swing "Take it nice and easy." I appreciate everyone's input and thank you for your helpful advice. On another note. Does anyone have a suggestion for a ball for swing type. I still want the control/spin around the green but I'm not sure that for my driving I need a high spin ball. Does anyone have any input/suggestions??

My opinion: He should not have asked. You should not have been so upset over it. What would I do; Lent him my driver and been upset, we are too nice.

6'3" Tall 34" Putter. Don't forget that some people have long arms like a monkey, and others have short little arms like a T-Rex

Very good advice, I always thought that I should try easing it down a bit, but I kinda thought that a full swing would be more consistent than an arbitrarily slower swing. Excellent. I have always wondered how to get a good handle on my distance. This is a fantastic idea, I feel like a retard for never thinking about. My skycaddie will do a fantastic job. Another great step. Currently I struggle with ball contact and control, but once I have a good handle on that, I can optimize my trajectory and spin like you suggest. I only wish it was simple. Then fixing my problem would be simple. My problem is that I don't find this simple at all. Swinging the same is a problem. Thank you all for your advice. I take alot away from it. Any more advice on how to make my swing more consistent would be most helpful. Would eaising it down a bit help? Anything else???????????

Here is my problem. I have a hard time with ball striking, and any advice I see for amateurs is about increasing swing speed to gain distance, not about making good contact and consistency. My story. This will be my third golf season. My first I held an 18 handicapp, and by the end of last year I have dropped it to 12. During this off-season I decided to have my clubs fitted - which was great. But was told by the pro, that I have a 'gift;' a swing speed above tour average. Here is why this is a problem. On my home course there is a 174yd par 3. I started with a 7i and seemed to always fly the green. So I grabbed an 8i, and thought that same swing should get me close. Flew the green. Kept trying that with no consistency in distance, more often going over the green than anything. So, my 9i isn't bad for about 160yds. And I thought that short is better than long. (fairway is better that thick rough) And told my playing partners that if I fly the green I'm qutting golfing. Well, I flew the green, but still love to golf so I keep playing. No this green is not below the tee box. It is about the same level. Sooo, how do tour players control distance? I don't mind coming up short if I make bad ball contact, but I hate going long when I have good contact. Any advice I usually see or hear is 'for amateur swing speeds - like yours.' Which drives me nuts. I am not sure that I need the high spin balls, and definitely don't buy in to the 'increased distance' sales pitches. So what advice do you guys have for me. Sorry about the long explanation/rant. But it drives me up the wall and it's hard to get solid advice. Thanks.

Are you 'vertically challanged?' The only reason that I say that, is too long of clubs could cause a more over the top swing, and hitting it on the heel. Perhaps shorter clubs. If not try standing further away from the ball. Twice as far from it is you think. It will feel like your streching. If you try that, your body will try to fix the over the top swing to contact the ball, and you will also find it very difficult to hit it on the heel. Let me know if this helps.

Irons are sooooo much about feel. Personally, I like the ping I5's I have. Go hit some balls with a whole bunch of different ones. At a 6 handicap, I would be concerned if you got too big of a cavity and lost some of the ability to work the ball. It's all about YOUR FEEL.

First thing I could recommend trying is focus on swinging more around your body. Take the club on the backswing around your hips, not your shoulders. This will help with the steep angle and the out-to-in swing path that slices the ball. As for the reverse pivot. I might try continueing to turn through the follow through almost to the point that your right foot comes off the ground and you will stand square to the target. This will make you put all your weight on your front foot, which makes a reverse pivot difficult, and may help with the open clubface that the reverse pivot creates. So. Swing the club around your hips, and swing your body to the target. A good drill to make your body do this to practice hitting off your knees. I bet the first time you try this drill you will hit the ground well BEFORE the ball. For most people this would cause a severe hook. If you start to draw or hook, find the happy medium. Let me know if this helps.

No. I do not think so. I do not have the leg flexibility to keep the foot perpendicular to the target at address so my foot must move. It actullay puts less restriction on my body rotation if I move it. Source: I turn my foot and still have higher than average swing speed.

I am going to agree and disagree with you. I do wish that stock clubs came with the XS shafts, and didn't have to pay an arm and a leg for them. Disagree; olf pro said I should play XS shafts, but not to worry about changing my 65S Prolaunch Blue in my driver. Gave me a XS to hit a couple of times then sliped a R stiff shaft in without me knowing and it didn't make a big difference. But I would like to see more XS out there.

I've been a 20 handicapper, and agree with Want2PlayMore. There are a few 20 handicappers who have played the game for years, and, like you say crush their drive once in a blue moon, and hit a 6I once 198yds. What I hated to hear was the constant rant that Want2PlayMore is talking about. Without any experience on course management, distance controll, club selection, how to properly execute a flop, chip, pitch, or punch, it hard for someone with the nicest swing to score low. Pulling the club all the way back and swinging the club fairly well is easy. But golf is obviously alot more than that.

A couple of her male predecessors, or all of them?????

Not sure your term is politically correct, and should be capitalized.

It's not an arguement, and it does make sense. If you read my first post, I was simply stating my opinion about the exclusion of a certain sex: Agreeing with the policy at Augusta National, and how that I felt that it is not sexest. Also, I was stating that I would disagree with policy of any PRIVATE club to limit its membership when it is the only club of it's kind in the area. Anything else?

Comfort and Durability. The same goes for any footwear. If you have to ask 'why buy expensive golf shoes,' you do not need to buy expensive golf shoes.

My point is that it is not immoral for Augusta to exclude women from its membership, but that it IS immoral to exclude women from golf itself.